Trolley-switch.



w. P. HINES. THULLEY SWITCH.

(Application Bled Oct. 20. 1900.)

Patented Aug. 20, |901.

25 ment of the trolley-wheel from the wire eX- Nirnn STATES ATENT Prion.

WALTER P. HINES, OF PORTSMOUTH, VIRGINIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO ALBERT N. PALMER, OF NORFOLK, VIRGINIA.

SWITCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of `Letters Patent No. 681,1 19, dated August 20, 1901.

`.llpplication filed October 20, 1900. Serial No. 33,757. (No model.)

` f citizen of the United States, residing at Portsi is attached.

mouth, `in the county of Norfolk and State of Virginia,have invented fa new and useful Trolley-Switch, of which the following is a specification.` i

This invention relates to electric-railway equipments in general, and more specifically to the class of overhead-trolley equipments, and ithas specic reference to the trolleywheel and its mounting on the trolley-arm and also to the trolley-switch for directing the trolley-wheel to the proper wire at a turnout.

"The object of the invention is to provide a simple and efficient trolley wherein the head will be pivotally mounted to swing in a vertical plane transversely of the trolley-wire, so that the trolley-wheel may be held in contact with the wire at such times as when the car may jerk violently from side to side and at which time the common form of wheel ist` usually displaced from the trolley-wire, an f additional object of the invention being to provide for preventing downward displacecepting at such times as when the trolley is to be intentionally removed from the trolleywire.

A further object of theinvention is to provide a specific form of switch for use at a turnout and which will coperate with the mechanism of the trolley to disengage its retaining means and permit of the trolley-wheel passing to a different member of the switch than that to which the engaged trolley-wire Additional objects and advantages of the inventionwill be evident from the following description.

In the drawings forming a portion of this specification, and injwhich like numerals of reference indicate similar parts in the several views, Figure 1 is a perspective view showing portions of a main and a branch trolley-wire connected with a turnout-switch and illustrating the `form and position of the trolley when approaching the switch on the main line. Fig. 2 `is a top plan view of the switch in its open position, as when the trolley is passthe front face of the trolley-head and showing the head and its parts in elevation, the retainers being in their open or disengaging position. Fig. 5 is a perspective View showing the guide with which the lower end of the trolley-head is slidably engaged.

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to Figs. 1, 3, and 4 thereof, 10 represents the trolley-arm, the lower end of which is provided with the usual mountings, which need not be shown, the upper end of the arm being disposed rearwardly and horizontally, as shown at 1l, the rear extremity of this rearwardly-disposed portion being reduced to form a spindle 12. Upon the spindle 12 is disposed the vertical trolley-head 13, which projects both above and below the trolley-arm, as shown at 14 and 15, the upwardlyprojecting portion being bifurcated to form two arms 16 and 17, and between these two arms is rotatably mounted the trolley-wheel 18 upon a spindle 19 in the usual manner.

\ To hold the trolley-head yieldably in a-vertical position to permit lateral pivotal movement thereof, a passage 20 is formed transversely through its lower end, and. in this passage is slidably mounted a guide-bar 21, the ends of the bar projecting beyond the side faces of the trolley-head. Uponthe projecting end portions of the guide-bar 21 are fixed leaf-springs 22, which are disposed upwardly and inwardly, their upper ends bearing against the side faces of the lower portion of the trolley-head. These springs hold the guide-bar normally withits ends projecting equal distances from the side faces of the head; but they permit of movement of the lower end of the head relatively to the guidebar when the latter is held stationary.

To hold the guide-bar 21 rigid with respect to the trolley-arm, a brace-bar. 23 has one end engaged with the trolley-arm, while its rear end is bifurcated to form arms 24 and 25-, these arms being connected with the outer 4ley-wire, retainers are provided.

tainers compriseeach an ,arm 24, including To further insure against accidental displacement of the trolley-Wheel from the trol- These rean upper member 25 and `a lower member26, disposed at an obtuse angle to each other, and

each of these arms is pivotally mounted on a side of the ,trolley-head .through 4the medium of t a ,pivot-.pin engaged with the arrnat its 1angle andwithears 27 .and 28, lying at opposite sides of the arm. VThe upperends ofthe arms 2 4 are bent inwardlyjover the -upper endsof thearms 16 and 17 to justrcover the interspacesbetween :the side faces of :fthe trolley-wheetand the inner faces ofthe arms 16 and 17, and on the upper faces `of these inwardly.- bent portions of the arms 24 are mounted rollers 29 .upon `spindles 30, said rollers being disposed to rotate `ill ,acornmon plane at right angles to the planeet' therota-y tion of -the -trolley -iwheel and to lie above' the ,trolley-wire when the trolley-wheel is :in engagement with the wire, at which tirn e. the rollers are in peripheral contact.

ville remove the rollers Afrom their positions above the trolley-wire when it is desired to drawthe trolley down from the `wire, a fline 31, ih aving forks 32 and 33 at itsupperrend,

has said forks connected Awith the outwardly.-

directed lower endslof the arms 24, lwhereby When "011e 4lille is draWndownwardlyt-he lower end sof the arms will be drawn toward each other and at VAthe same time the trolley-arm will `be drawn downwardly, vthe tension of` the springs at the base of the trolley being greater than thetension of the springs 34 and 35, which hold `the lower ends of the arms 24 spaced apart. The leaf-springs 34 and 3 5 are secured .tothe side faces of thelower portion lot' the trolley-head,the springs vbeing diverged laterally to rest with their lower ends against the inner face of the arms 24, with .which they are in slidable contact. In the use of a trolley `of this structure when the trolley is in operation and comes in on a branch line to the main line there must be provided some means at the turnout-switch for permitting the trolley to pass .to .the main wire, Vand also means must be provided for permitting the trolley when moving down the main wire `to pass `the branch wire. -These features are embodied in the turnout-switch shown in Figs. 1 and 2, in which the branch wire is connected directly with one section of the ,main wire at one side of the switch. through an element of the switch, the section i of the main line at the opposite side `of Athe switchlfrom t-heirst-named.main-line section being connected with a different member of the switch. This switch comprises a supportingplate 40, adapted for connection of a hanger thereto, and at the ends of which P13126 aredepending anges 41 and 42, which converge in conformity with the convergence of the main-line wire and lthe branch wire. To the lia-nge 41 is connected a plate 43,wh1le tto Vthe ,fiange 42 is connected a plate 44, the

plate 43 forming one leaf of a hinge, including a second leaf or plate 45. The plates 43 and 44 converge inconformity with the flanges Ito which they are attached, the plate 45 being of such length as to project beyond the convergent end of the plate 44, against which latter it is held yieldably by means of a leafspring46, ,bearing ,against the plate 45 and having its ,rear end portion riveted to the plate 43. The plate45 projects vonly beyond the .end of the body portionof plate 44,which latter has anarrowedextension 47, whichlies flat against and projects slightly 'beyond the plate 45, this extension 47 lying between a cam-plate 48, riveted onto the adjacent face of xthe `plate 45, and. the forward 4end of a iange 49, formed upon or secured to the adjacentface of plate 45 below said extension. The forward or convergentendof the plat@ 44 @has its lower edge slanted upwardly, so thatsaid plate is tapered to the narrow extension 47,-and the forward `end f plate 45 f is likewise tapered,soth at the flan ge 49 leads upwardly tto the extension 47. A angeO may be formed. upon o r securedto the lower por-tion of plate 45 opposite to the vflange 49, andanges 51 and 52 are securedtoor formed IOO 4upon the plate .43 in alinement with flanges 49 and V50.V One end of the main-line section 5 3 is connected directly with the extension 47 ofthe plate 44`to form a continuation thereof, while the adjacent end ofthe next `mainline section is connected to the farther end of the plate 43 and at the lower edge thereof, the branch wire 54 being connected with the outerend of the plate 44, at the loweredge thereof.

The operation of the switch is as follows: The 4 parts being in the position shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, when the trolley reaches the `switch the cam-plate 48 enters between the retaining-rollers on the trolley-head and moves them, with the arms 24, outwardlyfto permit the trolley-wheel tomove downwardly from the wire, and when this movement of the rollers has taken place the trolley-wheel strikes the forward downwardly-curved edge of the plate 45 and passes therealong and along the the lower edge of plate 43 until it passes to the trolley-wire at the rear of the switch. The rollers on the arms 24 run along the side Iianges at the lower edges of the plates 41 and 45 and are held spaced apart, and when said rollers move from the rear ends of l.these anges the springs 34 and 35 operate the arms 24 to rengage the rollers over the IIO ,its

trolley-wire.` In the return movement of the trolley alongthe main line, it' there be such return movement, the rollers will be separated by the rear edge of plate 43, permitting thetrolley-wheel to return along the lower edges of4 plates 43 and 45, and so onto the extension 47 and to the wire attached thereto. A trolley coming in over the branch line to the main line will strike the lower edge of the plate 44,. the rollers on arms 24 passing atopposite sides of the plate, the innermost roller entering between plates 44 and 45 at the extension 47 of the latter and by engaging lplate will press it laterally to permit the trolley to pass beyond the plate 45. When the trolley has passed from the switch, the retaining-rollers reen gage over the wire,which is nowthe main-line Wire. i

With this construction it will be seen that the trolley-retainers are automatically shifted from one wire to another, while when in their engaged positions they prevent displacement of the trolley-wheel.

"It will be understood that in practice various modifications of the specific construction `shown may be made and that any suitable materials and proportions may be used for the `various parts without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is- 1. In a trolley system, the combination with main and branch line trolley-Wires, of a trolley comprising a Wheel for contact with the wire and retainers held yieldably in their operative positions transversely of the wheel and above the Wire, and a turnout-switch connectingthe branch wire with the main wire, said switch comprising a plate having a main-line section attached to one end and a branch-line section attached toits opposite end, and a second plate disposed divergingly from the first plate, means for holding the plates yieldablyin contact at their converging ends, the second plate having a contacting portion leading downwardly from the linewire which is attached to the first plate, to receive the trolley-wheel and guide it from said line-wire, and the iirst plate having a cam portion for engagement between the retainers to separate them and permit downward movement ot' the trolley-Wheel from the line-wire.

2. In a trolley system, the combination with a trolley-Wheel having retainers disposed tolie normally at the opposite side of a wire to hold the wheel in place thereon and means for holding the retainers yieldably in operative position, of main and branch line wires having a connecting turnout-switch, one member of the switch having a section of the main wire attached at one end and the branch wire attached at its opposite end, and a second member ofthe switch having a mainline section attached at one end and its opposite end disposed to receive the trolley-wheel from the first main-line section, and means carried by the switch for engagement with the retainers for moving them to inoperative positionsto permit the trolley-wheel to pass from the main-line wire that is attached to the first plate.

3. In a trolley system, a trolley comprising an arm, a head pivoted to the arm for operative movement in a. vertical pla-ne transversely of a trolley-wire, and a wheel carried by the head. a

4. A trolley comprising an arm, a head pivoted to the arm for operative movement in a vertical plane transversely of avtrolleywire, a wheel carried by the head for engagement with the wire, and means for holding the head yieldably against pivotal movement.

5. A trolley comprising an arm, a head pivoted to the arm for movement in a plane at an angle to the direction of progress of the trolley, said head extending above and below the end of the arm, a wheel mounted in the upper end of the head for contact with a wire, a guide-bar connected with the arm and slidably engaged with the head, and springs sustained by the guide-bar and-disposed to hold the head yield-ably against pivotal movement.

6. A trolley 'comprising an arm having a head adapted for lateral tilting movement on the arm, a trolley-wheel rotatably mounted in the head and adapted for bodily tilting movement therewith, retaining-arms pivoted on the side faces of the head and having their upper ends projected inwardly and provided with means for bridging a wire above the trolley-wheel, the lower portions of the arms lying normally divergent, means for holding the arms yieldably in their operative positions, and means for retracting the arms to release the wire.

7. A trolley comprising an arm having a head adapted for lateral tilting movement on the arm, a trolley-wheel mounted in the head and adapted for bodily tilting movement therewith, retaining-arms pivoted at the sides of the head, rollers carried by the arms and adapted to lie'in mutual peripheral contact above and transversely of the trolleywheel, the lower portions of the arms lying divergent, means for holding the arms yieldably with the rollers in operative positions, and means for moving the arms against said holding means.

8. A trolley comprising an arm having an upper rearwardly-directed end provided with a spindle, a head pivotally mounted upon the spindle for movement at an angle to the direction of progress of the trolley, said head extending above and below the rearwardlydirected portion of the arm and having its upper portion bifurcated, a trolley-wheel disposed between the bifurcations of the head, retainers mounted upon the head for movement into and out of position above and IOO IIO

transversely of the Wheel, a guide-bar slida- In testimony that I claim the foregoing as bly engaged with the lower. end of the head, my own I havehereto affixed my signature i springs disposed between the bnr and head the presence of tWo Witnesses.

to hold the latter yieldably in a predeter- WALTER P. EINES.l 5 mined :relation to the bar, and means con- Witnesses:

nected with the bar and trolley-arm for hold- C.l E. DOYLE,

ing the bar in fixed relation to the arm. FRANK S. .APPLEMAN. 

